/^INTROSPECTIVE 

<_/  ^  history  of 
Lower.  New  York 


lEx  ICthrtH 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book.'' 


OLD   YORK    LIBRARY  -  OLD    YORK  FOUNDATION 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  Y<  >rk  Library 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


http://archive.org/details/retrospectivehisOObayn 


Qy^Re-trospecttve  Historical  Sketck 
3^New\ork  jfaom  ike  Arrival  o/^t/te 
Half  Moon  in  1609  particularly 
relating  to  tke  Location  oftAe 

Seaboard  National  Bank 

at  -f£e  comer  of 

BROAD  AND  BEAVER  STREETS 

The  exact  sfiot  being  where  the  small  bridge  stands 
as  shown  in  the  above  sketch 


1o  Our  ^Fr tends  &JDepo3ttorj 


New  York 
the  Mecca 
of 

American 
youth 


r 


\  E  do  not  agree  with  the  more  or  less 
10/  popular  conception  that  even  a  serious 
-  |  and  conservative  bank  should  be  con- 
ducted as  if  it  were  a  financial  morgue  and  that 
its  President  should  have  a  face  that  could  be 
appropriately  chosen  as  a  frontispiece  for  the 
Book  of  Lamentations,  with  an  expression  that 
reflects  the  well-known  character  of  Uriah  Heep. 
On  the  contrary,  he  should,  when  opportunity 
offers,  drop  some  comic  relief  into  the  sombre 
scenes  in  which  he  is  usually  cast,  to  lighten 
up  the  gloom,  as  it  were.  With  this  idea  in 
mind,  we  have  attempted  to  write  a  few  lines 
describing  the  arrival  of  a  man  making  his  first 
visit  to  New  York,  to  which  he  has  looked  for- 
ward as  the  event  of  his  life,  a  Mecca  about 
which  he  has  been  reading  up  ever  since  he  was 
a  boy,  so  that  he  would  be  properly  injormed 


when  he  arrived  and  could  enjoy  it  to  the  limit. 


[2} 


Copyright,  192 1,  by  the  Seaboard  National  Bank 


m 


iHEN  a  stranger  drops  into  New  York,  he  usually 
"hikes"  to  one  of  the  jumbo  hotels  de  luxe  de 
pandemonium  which  furnish  filled  pocket  pistols 
for  side  arms,  grabs  a  pen,  dashes  down  his  nom  de  plume 
on  the  dotted  line  with  a  John  Hancock  flourish,  and 
remarks  to  the  "Glad  Hand"  in  attendance: 
"Some  little  burg  you  live  in,  I  guess." 
This  formula  is  the  signal,  and  the  game  is  on. 
"I  see  you  do  not  rattle  the  verbal  castanets  in  the 
overture  to  your  initiation,  but  may  I  politely  inquire, 
Are  you  up  for  a  financial  joy-ride  with  hold-ups  on  the  side, 
or  would  you  delve  into  the  delights  of  our  cubist  art  and 
real  Old  Masters,  see  the  stage  beauties  on  the  Great  White 
Way,  prance  in  the  cabaret,  admire  the  latest  female 
Betelgeuse  who  enthralls  the  jeune  d'or  of  the  town,  or  do 
you  want  to  fritter  away  your  time  on  the  futile  blooms  of 
piffledom — which  wTould  call  for  your  admission  into  the 
strictly  new  and  popular  set  that  is  now  known  as  the 
'Boobery'?"  queries  the  mentor. 

"Well,  you're  quite  a  conversational  soloist  yourself, 
I  see,"  answers  the  "Arrival,"  "but  I  think  I'll  just  spin 
over  the  orbit  of  your  highest  delights  before  deciding  what 
I  want  to  do — in  strict  keeping  with  the  straight  and  narrow, 
of  course." 

"Yes,  sir,  we  believe  this  is  quite  a  beau  ideal  place; 
but  you  would  never  dream  that  it  was  once  sold  by  the 
Indians  to  the  first  syndicate  ever  formed  on  this  continent  New 
for  twenty-four  dollars!    This  is  a  cold  historic  fact  and  is  *° 
corroborated  by  that  practical  pyramid  of  humor  and    so^  for  $24 
veracity  with  the  undying  fame  of  the  ancient  joker  of  all 
time,  the  immortal  'Sage  of  Peekskill,'  who  might  well  have 
been  President  of  the  United  States  if  he  had  not  chosen 
to  crack  jokes  with  the  Roman  emperors.    He  was  in  on 
this  $24-deal,  all  right!  egged  on  the  traders  and  helped  to 
draw  up  the  papers.    Still  more  remarkable  is  the  fact  that 
a  part  of  this  classic  and  historic  ground  is  the  Seaboard 
Bank's  site  for  its  new  home.    It  is  in  the  verv  center  of 


things:  it  is  located  at  the  junction  of  a  stream  and  an 
inlet  that  were  once  crowded  with  fish,  clams  and  oysters — 
in  fact,  it  has  the  'saddle-rocks'  for  its  foundations!  This, 
however,  when  accurately  differentiated,  would  leave  the 
site  costing  the  owners  not  more  than  a  dime;  whereas, 
they  were  offered  a  million  and  a  half  for  it  before  they  took 
possession — quite  paradoxical,  but  strictly  true." 

If  King  George's  ancestors  had  what  we  are  now 
pleased  to  call  "vision,"  and  had  secured  an  interest  in  this 
great  #24-transaction,  see  where  the  Guelphs  would  stand 
to-day!  But  they  did  not  do  it,  and  thus  a  gigantic  blunder 
was  consummated.  George,  however,  did  not  turn  a  dark 
olive  green  with  envy  and  grief,  but  faced  both  fate  and  the 
music,  like  a  true  sport.  He  philosophically  reflected'  that 
if  the  royal  Victorian  Guelphs  had  become  interested,  they 
would  have  grown  so  rich  that  they  would  not  have  been 
contented  with  the  pastime  of  continuing  in  the  royalty 
trade,  with  all  its  cares  and  pitfalls,  forever  passing  up  the 
seats  in  the  financial  Hall  of  Fame  which  would  have  been 
theirs  on  accepting  the  alternative  of  a  line  of  money-bags 
to  a  line  of  kings.  This  can  hardly  be  called  a  sound, 
logical  argument  based  on  good  reasoning  and  common 
sense,  but  the  subject  is  bristling  with  international  dif- 
ficulties, and  we  must  "play  safe"  at  all  costs!  If  we  did 
not,  for  instance,  and  we  could  scrape  up  the  price  of  a 
passage  to  England,  they  might  clap  us  in  the  Tower  of 
London  and  make  a  Roman  holiday  out  of  what  we  had 
planned  as  a  Cook's  tour!  One  never  can  tell  how  Fate 
may  play  ducks  and  drakes  with  our  best-laid  plans  and 
intentions.  So  we  will  drop  the  discussion  just  where  it  is, 
and  hope  our  friends  will  take  no  offense  at  what  has  been 
said,  for  none  was  intended. 

We  will  now  take  up  in  all  seriousness  the  sketch  of 
the  lower  part  of  Manhattan  Island,  which  we  hope  will  be 
interesting  to  our  friends  and  customers. 


Ul 


SEABOARD  NATIONAL  BANK 


If 


HE  earliest  records  extant  state  that  as  far  back  as 
1598,  a  few  Hollanders  in  the  employ  of  a  Green- 
land company  were  in  the  habit  of  resorting  to  New 
Netherlands  {i.e.,  New  York)  merely  to  secure  shelter  during 
the  winter  months.  With  this  view  they  built  two  small 
huts  to  protect  themselves  against  the  Indians.  Never- 
theless, the  fact  remains  undisputed  that  to  Hudson  belongs 
the  honor  of  being  the  first  who  directed  public  attention 
to  the  Island  of  Manhattan  as  an  advantageous  point  for  a 
trading  port  in  the  New  World. 

The  topography  of  New  York  Island,  as  it  was  first 
seen  by  Hudson  from  the  deck  of  the  ''Half  Moon,"  was  as 
follows:  "The  lower  part  of  it  consisted  of  wood-crowned 
hills  and  beautiful  grassy  valleys,  including  a  chain  of 
swamps  and  marshes  and  a  deep  pool.  Northward  it  rose 
into  a  rocky  high  crown.  The  sole  inhabitants  were  a  tribe 
of  dusky  Indians — an  offshoot  from  the  great  nation  of  the 


These 
small  huts 
are  quite  a 
contrast 
to  the 
Wool  worth 
Building 


Lenni  Lenape,  who  inhabited  the  vast  territory  bounded  by 
the  Penobscot  and  the  Potomac,  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Mississippi,  dwelling  in  the  clusters  of  rude  wigwams  that 
dotted  here  and  there  the  surface  of  the  country.  The  rivers 
that  girt  the  island  were  as  yet  undisturbed  by  the  keels  of 
ships,  and  the  bark  canoes  of  the  native  Manhattans  held 
sole  possession  of  the  peaceful  waters. 

"The  upper  part  of  the  island  was  rocky  and  covered 
by  a  dense  forest,  the  lower  part  grassy  and  rich  in  wild 
fruits  and  flowers.  Grapes  and  strawberries  grew  in  abun- 
dance in  the  fields,  and  nuts  of  various  kinds  were  plentiful 
in  the  forests,  which  were  also  filled  with  an  abundance  of 
game.  The  brooks  and  ponds  were  swarming  with  fish,  and 
the  soil  was  of  luxuriant  fertility.  An  inlet  occupied  the 
place  of  Broad  Street,  and  a  long  line  of  meadows  and 
swampy  ground  stretched  to  the  northward  along  the 
eastern  shore.  The  highest  line  of  land  lay  along  Broadway 
from  the  Battery  to  the  northernmost  part  of  the  island, 
forming  its  backbone  and  sloping  gradually  to  the  east  and 
west," 

Hudson's  glowing  account  of  the  rich  peltry  he  had 
seen  in  the  newly  discovered  regions  soon  turned  the  atten- 
tion of  the  busy  Dutch  to  a  country  where  these  articles 
No  duty  on  could  be  purchased  without  the  taxes  of  custom-houses  and 
furs  in  1610  other  duties.  Accordingly,  in  the  year  1610  a  few  merchants 
dispatched  a  vessel  to  traffic  in  fur  with  the  Indians.  This 
was  followed  by  other  vessels,  and  thus  was  begun  the 
important  fur  trade  which  was  soon  to  be  the  chief  source 
of  wealth  to  Holland  and  America. 

In  the  year  1617,  a  formal  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance 
was  concluded  between  the  Dutch  and  the  powerful  nation 
of  the  Iroquois.  The  pipe  of  peace  was  smoked  and  the 
hatchet  buried  in  the  earth.  This  treaty  greatly  increased 
the  prosperity  of  the  Dutch  traders,  who  had  hitherto  occu- 
pied Manhattan  merely  by  the  sufferance  of  the  Indians. 
Up  to  this  period,  the  Hollanders  had  considered  Manhattan 
as  a  trading  post  only,  and  dwelt  in  mere  temporary  huts  of 
[6] 


VIEW  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM  NOW  NEW  YORK 


rude  construction.  In  1623,  the  West  India  Company  began 
to  colonize  with  fresh  zeal.  In  the  "New  Netherland" 
thirty  families  embarked  for  the  distant  territory  whose 
name  she  bore,  and  with  the  arrival  of  the  vessel  a  new  era 
in  the  domestic  history  of  the  settlement  began.  Soon  saw- 
mills supplied  the  necessary  timber  for  comfortable  dwellings 
in  the  place  of  the  bark  huts  built  after  the  Indian  fashion. 
The  new  buildings  were  generally  one  story  high  with  two 
rooms  on  a  floor,  and  a  thatched  roof  garret.  For  want  of 
brick  and  mortar  the  chimneys  were  constructed  of  wood. 
The  interior  was  very  scantily  supplied  with  furniture — the 
great  chest  from  Fatherland  with  its  prized  household  goods 
being  the  most  imposing  article.  Tables  were  generally 
the  heads  of  barrels  placed  on  end;  rough  shelves  constituted 
the  cupboard,  and  chairs  were  logs  of  wood  rough  hewn  from 
the  forest.  To  complete  the  furniture  there  was  the  well- 
known  "Sloap  Banck,"  or  sleeping  bench — the  bedstead — 
where  lay  the  boast,  the  pride,  the  comfort  of  a  Dutch 
housekeeper,  the  feather  bed.  Around  the  present  Battery 
and  Coenties  Slip  and  Bowling  Green  were  the  houses,  a 
few  of  which  were  surrounded  by  gardens.  The  fruit  trees 
often  excited  the  thieving  propensities  of  the  natives,  and 
one  devastating  war  followed  the  shooting  of  an  Indian  girl 


The 

sawmills 
start  the 
real  estate 
boom 


Ye  gods!  a 
cargo  of 
furs  for 
$12,000! 
The  ladies 
shed 
regretful 
tears! 


while  stealing  peaches  from  an  orchard  on  Broadway  near 
the  present  Bowling  Green. 

Meanwhile  commerce  kept  pace  with  the  new  houses, 
and  the  staunch  ship  "New  Netherland"  returned  to  Hol- 
land with  a  cargo  of  furs  valued  at  $12,000.  In  1626,  the 
first  seal  was  granted  to  the  province,  having  for  a  crest  a 
beaver,  than  which  for  a  coat-of-arms  nothing  could  have 
been  more  appropriate.  It  was  fitting  that  the  earliest 
Hollanders  of  the  "Empire  City"  should  thus  honor  the 
animal  that  was  fast  enriching  them  in  their  newly  adopted 
home. 

In  the  first  act  of  his  administration,  Peter  Minuit, 
Director-General  of  New  Netherland,  purchased  in  an  open 
and  honorable  manner  the  Island  of  Manhattan  from  the 
Indians  for  sixty  guilders,  equal  to  #24.  The  island  was 
estimated  to  contain  22,000  acres.  The  price  paid,  it  is 
true,  was  a  mere  trifle,  but  the  purchase  itself  was  lawful 
and  satisfactory  to  the  aboriginal  owners — a  fact  which 
cannot  be  truly  said  in  regard  to  other  regions  taken  from 
the  Indians. 

At  this  time  some  thirty  rudely  constructed  log-houses 
extended  along  the  shores  of  the  East  River,  which  with  a 
block-house,  a  horse-mill  and  the  "Company's"  thatched 
stone  building  constituted  the  City  of  New  York  some  three 
hundred  years  ago.    Every  settler  had  his  own  cabin  and 


hrfL  /nv  *Jv ■  \ 


l  ^gS^'^i^VT, 


THE  OLD  FORT 

[8] 


cows,  tilled  his  land,  or  traded  with  the  Indians — all  were 
busy,  like  their  emblem,  the  beaver.  The  settlement  of 
New  Amsterdam  continued  to  prosper,  and  in  the  year  1629 
the  exports  from  Manhattan  exceeded  130,000  guilders. 

At  length,  in  the  month  of  April,  1633,  the  ship 
"Soutberg"  reached  Manhattan,  and  among  the  passengers 
came  Dominie  Everardus  Bogardus  and  Adam  Roelandsen, 
the  first  regular  clergyman  and  schoolmaster  of  New  Am- 
sterdam. A  church  now  became  indispensable,  and  the 
room  over  the  horse-mill,  where  prayers  had  been  regularly 
read  for  seven  years,  was  abandoned  for  a  rude  wooden 
church  on  Pearl  between  Whitehall  and  Broad  Streets,  on 
the  shores  of  the  East  River.  This  was  the  first  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  in  the  city,  and  near  by  were  constructed 
the  parsonage  and  the  Dominie's  stables.  The  graveyard 
was  laid  out  on  Broadway  in  the  vicinity  of  Morris  Street. 

The  West  India  Company  had  authorized  the  forti- 
fying of  the  depots  of  the  fur  trade;  accordingly,  the  fort 
on  the  Battery,  commenced  in  the  year  1626,  was  rebuilt, 
and  a  guardhouse  and  barracks  prepared  for  the  soldiers. 
Several  brick  and  stone  dwellings  were  erected  within  the 
fort,  also  three  windmills  which  were  used  to  grind  the 
grain  necessary  for  the  garrison  on  the  southwest  bastion 
of  the  fort.  African  slaves  were  the  laborers  principally 
engaged  upon  these  improvements.  During  the  adminis- 
tration of  Van  Twilier,  Fort  Amsterdam  was  finished  in 
1635.  The  walls  of  the  fort  were  in  no  wise  improved  by 
the  incompetent  Van  Twilier,  except  the  northwest  bastion, 
which  was  faced  with  stone.  The  other  parts  of  the  walls 
were  simply  banks  of  earth  without  ditches,  nor  were  they 
even  surrounded  by  a  fence  to  keep  off  the  goats  and  other 
animals  running  at  large  in  the  town.  Nevertheless,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  fort  exercised  a  very  salutary  influence 
in  keeping  the  Indians  at  a  respectful  distance. 

Van  Twilier,  though  he  was  an  inefficient  Governor, 
was  a  thorough  merchant,  and  understood  the  monopoly 
of  the  fur  trade;   and  when  the  English  ship  "William" 

[9] 


Our 

forefathers 
began  to 
pray 


was  a 
fighter 


CORNER  OF  EXCHANGE  PLACE  AND  BROAD  STREET 

arrived  in  the  bay,  bringing  Jacob  Eelkins,  Van  Twiller 
refused  permission  for  the  vessel  to  proceed  further  on  its 
way,  and  demanded  Eelkins'  commission.  The  Governor 
ordered  the  national  flag  hoisted  and  three  guns  fired  in 
honor  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  forbade  Eelkins  to  pro- 
ceed further.  The  latter,  however,  running  up  the  British 
colors  and  firing  a  salute  for  King  Charles,  coolly  steered  up 
Van  the  river,  in  defiance  of  Fort  Amsterdam.    Astonished  as 

Twiller  yan  Twiller  was  at  this  daring  act,  he  nevertheless  pro- 

ceeded philosophically.  First,  he  summoned  all  the  people 
in  front  of  the  fort,  now  the  Bowling  Green;  next,  he  ordered 
a  cask  of  wine  and  another  of  beer;  then  filling  his  own  glass, 
he  called  on  all  good  citizens  who  loved  the  Prince  of  Orange 
to  follow  his  patriotic  example  and  drink  confusion  to  the 
English  Government. 

Meanwhile  the  settlement  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  the 
New  York  embryo,  continued  to  increase  and  prosper,  and 
men  of  enterprise  and  wealth  often  arrived.  Ships  were 
loaded  with  bricks  burnt  in  Holland.  At  first  every  dwelling 
was  modeled  after  those  they  had  left,  with  storerooms  for 
trade,  like  those  of  Amsterdam  and  other  trading  towns  in 
Fatherland.  Thus  at  New  Amsterdam  rows  of  houses  could 
[10] 


be  seen  built  of  imported  brick  with  thatched  roofs,  wooden 
chimneys,  and  their  gable  ends  always  toward  the  street. 
In  1870,  a  few  of  these  original  venerable  Dutch  homes 
could  still  be  seen.     Until  the  year  1642,  city  lots  and 
streets  were  unknown,  adventurers  and  settlers  selecting 
land  wherever  most  convenient  for  their  purpose;  hence, 
the  crooked  courses  of  some  of  our  downtown  streets, 
notably  Pearl  (so  named  because  of  the  pearly  shells  found  peari 
along  the  shore),  which  formed  the  bank  of  the  river —  Street 
Water,  Front    and  South  Streets  having    all  been   re-    crooked  as 
claimed  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  trade  and  com-    a  ram's 
merce.    Pearl,  it  is  thought,  was  the  first  street  occu-  horn 
pied,  the  first  houses  being  built  there  in  1633.  Bridge 
Street  came  next,  and  a  deed  is  still  in  existence  for  a  lot 
on  it,  34  by  no  feet,  for  the  sum  of  24  guilders  ($9.60). 
This  is  the  earliest  conveyance  of  city  property  on  record. 
Whitehall,  Stone,  Beaver  and  Marketfield  Streets  were 
opened  soon  after.    In  the  year  1642,  the  first  grant  of  a 
city  lot  east  of  the  fort  at  the  Battery  was  made.  During 
the  next  year  several  lots  were  granted  on  the  lower  end  of 
"Heere  Straat,"  as  Broadway  was  then  named.    The  first 

[iil 


A  good  cow 
is  a  gold 
mine 
to-day 


grantee  of  a  lot  in  this  section  opposite  the  Bowling  Green 
was  Martin  Krigier.  There  he  built  the  well  known  Krigier's 
Tavern,  which  soon  became  a  fashionable  resort.  Upon  the 
demolition  of  this  building,  its  site  was  occupied  by  the 
"King's  Arms"  Tavern  which  in  after  years  was  the  head- 
quarters of  the  British  General,  Gage.  Subsequently  it 
became  the  "Atlantic  Garden,"  No.  9  Broadway,  where  it 
long  remained  one  of  the  striking  mementoes  of  the  olden 
time. 

In  those  early  days  the  city  lay  south  of  the  present 
Wall  Street.  The  point  of  land  was  much  narrower  than  at 
present,  the  west  shore  line  being  at  about  Greenwich 
Street  and  the  east  line  above  Pearl.  Battery  Point  then 
extended  as  far  as  State  Street.  The  present  site  of  the 
Custom  House  was  occupied  by  Fort  Amsterdam,  built  in 
1633-35;  Bowling  Green  was  the  village  Common  directly 
back  of  the  Fort.  One  road  ran  to  the  shore  on  the  east, 
while  one  running  to  the  north  is  perpetuated  in  Lower 
Broadway. 

But  the  monopoly  of  the  traffic  in  furs  was  not  the  only 
source  of  gain.  A  profitable  commerce  was  also  carried  on 
with  New  England.  Dutch  vessels  brought  tobacco,  salt, 
horses,  oxen  and  sheep  from  Holland  to  Boston.  An  old 
account  says  they  came  from  the  Texel  in  five  weeks  and 
three  days  "  and  lost  not  one  beast  or  sheep."  Potatoes  from 
Bermuda  were  worth  twopence  a  pound,  a  good  cow  twenty 
[12] 


five  or  thirty  pounds,  a  pair  of  oxen  readily  brought  forty 
pounds. 

Under  the  administration  of  Governor  Kieft,  in  1641, 
the  streets  of  the  town  were  better  laid  out  in  the  lower 
section  of  the  city.  The  price  of  lots  30  by  125  feet  averaged 
at  this  period  about  #14.  Kieft  instituted  two  annual 
fairs,  one  for  cattle  and  one  for  hogs,  upon  the  Bowling 
Green.  As  these  fairs  increased  in  number,  the  Governor 
found  them  a  heavy  tax  upon  his  politeness  as  well  as  his 
larder,  and  in  1642  he  erected  a  large  stone  tavern,  situated 
on  a  commanding  spot  near  the  present  Coenties  Slip,  and 
which  was  afterward  altered  into  the  "Stadt  Huys"  or 
City  Hall. 

In  1645,  Kieft,  perceiving  his  former  errors,  con- 
cluded a  treaty  of  amity  with  the  Indians.  In  two  years 
not  less  than  1,600  savages  had  been  killed  at  Manhattan 
and  its  neighborhood,  and  scarcely  100  could  be  found 
besides  traders. 

In  May,  1647,  Governor  Stuyvesant  arrived  at  Man- 


Kieft  was 
the  Armour 
of  those 
days 


t  5H 


f  B 

ra  1 

i  J 

OLD  CITY  HALL 


THE  BOWLING  GREEN  AND  FORT  GEORGE  IN  1783 


In  1648 

they  began 
to  regulate 
the  taverns. 
They  have 
been 

trying  to 
regulate 
them  ever 
since 


hattan  and  "found  the  colony  in  a  low  condition."  Far 
from  despairing,  however,  the  sturdy  Dutchman  at  once 
put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel.  Stuyvesant  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  Governor  who  took  pride  in  improving  the 
town  itself.  He  found  the  infant  city  very  unattractive, 
with  half  the  houses  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  cattle  run- 
ning at  large,  the  public  ways  crooked,  and  the  fences 
straggling  in  zigzag  fashion,  many  of  them  encroaching 
on  the  lines  of  the  streets.  All  these  evils  he  at  once  set 
about  to  remedy,  and  one  of  his  earliest  acts  was  to  appoint 
the  first  "Surveyors  of  Buildings,"  whose  duties  were  to 
regulate  the  erection  of  new  houses  in  New  Amsterdam. 

About  this  period,  1648,  it  became  necessary  to 
regulate  the  taverns.  Notwithstanding,  however,  all  pre- 
cautions, the  Indians  were  daily  seen  "running  about 
drunk"  through  Manhattan  streets,  as  white  men  do  to-day 
under  our  modern  "prohibition." 

Every  Monday  was  to  be  a  market  day,  and  an  annual 
fair  for  ten  days  was  established,  at  which  all  persons 
could  sell  goods  from  their  tents.  The  trade  on  the  North 
and  South  Rivers  was  reserved  for  citizens  having  the 
requisite  qualifications.  It  was  declared,  however,  that 
the  East  River  should  be  "free  and  open  to  any  one,  no 
[14] 


matter  to  what  nation  he  may  belong."  All  vessels  under 
fifty  tons  were  to  anchor  between  the  "Capsey  Hoeck" 
(which  divided  the  East  and  North  Rivers)  and  the  "Hand" 
or  guide-board  near  the  present  Battery. 

In  the  year  1656,  there  were  in  New  Amsterdam  120 
houses  and  about  a  thousand  people.    "In  conformity  to 
the  laudable  custom  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam  in  Europe,"    They  still 
the  right  to  be  a  "Great  Burgher"  (one  who  paid  500    buy  offices 
guilders,  monopolized  office,  and  was  exempt  from  con-  sometimes 
fiscation  of  goods)  was  introduced  into  New  Amsterdam.    gQ  ^Q  ja«j 
This  was  an  absurd  imitation  of  an  invidious  policy,  and  the  for 
city  was  soon  obliged  to  abandon  this  most  offensive  of  all 
distinctions — an   aristocracy  founded   on  class,   or  mere 
wealth. 

In  October,  1673,  Captain  Colve  (Dutch)  being  in 
command  of  the  city,  we  find  it  stated  in  one  of  the  orders 
that  the  fortifications  had  then,  at  great  expense  and  labor 
to  the  citizens,  been  brought  "to  perfection."  The  entire 
city  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  military  post,  the  Com- 
mons becoming  the  parade  ground.  A  wall  or  palisade 
was  placed  around  it,  running  from  Trinity  Church  along 
Wall  Street — hence  its  name — and  block-houses  protected 
the  settlement  on  every  side.  The  city  at  this  period 
comprised  320  houses. 

In  1674,  tne  treaty  of  peace  between  England  and  the 
States-General  was  signed  at  Westminster,  and  the  Dutch, 
having  discovered  and  possessed  the  beautiful  country  of 
New  Netherland  for  almost  sixty  years,  were  now  once  and 
forever  dispossessed  of  it.  On  the  9th  of  February,  1674, 
the  old  fort  became  "Fort  James,"  having  surrendered  to 
Sir  Edmund  Andros,  who  had  been  appointed  Governor  by 
the  Duke  of  York. 

Shortly  before  the  cession  of  New  Amsterdam  to  the 
British  rule,  the  settlement  was  celebrated  for  its  number 
of  young  people,  as  the  children  of  the  early  immigrants 
had  then  reached  adult  age.  Many  romantic  rural  spots 
everywhere  surrounding  the  settlements  at  New  Nether- 

hsl 


Until  lately 
Gold  Street 
was  a  gold 
brick;  it  is 
almost  a 
platinum 
disc  now 


land  were  naturally  favorable  to  the  important  business  of 
courtship,  and  there  were  several  places  of  pleasant  resort 
famed  for  this  business,  even  at  that  early  day.  On  the 
site  of  the  present  Trinity  Church  was  the  West  India 
Company's  beautiful  garden,  with  its  rich  flowers  and 
vegetable  productions.  A  little  beyond  the  town  was 
"Maiden's  Valley,"  now  Maiden  Lane,  a  rural  shady  walk 
with  a  charming  little  rivulet  running  through  it.  The 
original  name  of  this  rustic  walk  was  "T'Maagde  Paatje," 
or  the.  "Maiden's  Path."  South  of  this  lane  stretched 
Clover  Watie  or  "pasture  field,"  and  from  the  present  Gold 
Street,  hidden  in  the  foliage,  a  little  stream,  fed  by  a  living 
spring,  came  tumbling  down  among  the  rocks. 

At  this  time  the  town  windmill  stood  on  a  bluff 
within  our  present  Battery,  opposite  Greenwich  Street. 
On  Water,  between  Whitehall  and  Moore  Streets,  was  the 
"Government  House,"  built  by  Stuyvesant,  of  stone,  and 
the  best  edifice  in  town.  When  Governor  Dongan  became 
its  owner,  he  changed  its  name  from  "Government  House" 
to  "Whitehall,"  hence  the  name  of  the  street.  It  was 
surrounded  by  a  large  inclosure,  one  side  of  which  with  the 
garden  was  washed  by  the  river,  and  a  little  dock  for  pleasure 
boats  ran  into  the  stream  at  this  point.  Here  also  was 
located  the  Governor's  house,  between  which  and  the  canal 
in  Broad  Street  was  the  present  Pearl  Street,  then  the  great 
center  of  trade — known  as  the  "Waterside,"  and  some- 
times as  the  "Strand."  Near  the  Governor's  house  was  the 
"Way-house,"  or  "  Weigh-house,"  at  the  head  of  the  public 
wharf  at  the  foot  of  the  present  Moore  Street.  A  very  short 
distance  off  and  parallel  with  Pearl  Street,  ran  the  "Brugh 
Straat "  (the  present  Bridge  Street),  so  named  from  the  fact 
of  its  leading  to  the  bridge  across  the  canal  in  Broad  Street. 
The  canal  in  Broad  Street  was  in  truth  but  a  narrow  stream 
running  toward  Wall  Street  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  Both 
sides  were  dyked  with  posts,  in  the  fashion  of  Fatherland, 
at  a  distance  of  12  ft.  from  the  houses.  On  each  side,  as 
houses  line  the  canals  in  Holland,  stood  a  row  of  buildings 
C 16] 


in  the  older  Dutch  style,  low,  high-peaked,  and  very  neat. 
Each  had  its  stoop,  a  vane  or  weather-cock,  and  its  dormer 
window.  From  the  roof  of  one  a  little  iron  crane  projected, 
with  a  small  boat  at  its  end,  as  a  sign  of  this  being  the 
"  Ferry-house."  The  landing  was  at  the  head  of  the  canal  in 
Broad  Street,  at  the  point  where  Garden  Street  united  with 
it.  This  canal  was  a  little  stream  originally  and  went  up  to 
" Verlettenberg  Hill"  (Exchange  Place).  Here  the  country 
people  from  Brooklyn,  Gowanus  and  Bergen  brought  their 
marketing  to  the  center  of  the  city.  Many  of  the  market 
boats  were  rowed  by  stout  women,  wearing  close  caps. 
There  were  generally  two  rowers  to  each  craft.  Further 
along  the  East  River,  or  "Waterside,"  was  the  "  Stadt  Huys," 
or  City  Hall,  in  front  of  which  was  placed  a  battery  of  three 
guns.  Proceeding  along  the  river  shore,  we  pass  Hanover 
Square  and  bridge  to  the  city  gate  at  the  foot  of  Wall 
Street,  sometimes  called  the  "Water  Gate,"  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  "Land  Gate"  at  the  end  of  the  road  on  the 
"  Sheera  Straat "  (Broadway).  The  Water  Gate  seems  to 
have  been  quite  an  imposing  structure,  doubtless  because 
Pearl  Street  was  the  great  thoroughfare  and  main  entrance 
to  the  town.  Most  of  the  strangers  or  visitors  to  New 
Amsterdam  came  from  Long  Island. 

At  a  very  early  day  the  tanneries  in  Broad  Street  were 
declared  a  nuisance,  and  their  owners  ordered  to  remove 
beyond  the  city  limits.  This  they  did,  and  established  them- 
selves along  Maiden  Lane,  then  a  marshy  valley. 

The  city  wall,  called  the  "Lingel,"  or  ramparts,  was 
a  row  of  palisades  with  embankments  nine  feet  high  and 
four  wide,  on  which  several  cannon  were  mounted  on 
bastions.  Two  large  stone  points  were  afterward  added — 
one  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Wall,  called  "Hol- 
landia,"  and  the  other  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Wall 
and  William,  known  as  "Zealandia."  These  completely 
commanded  the  whole  front  of  the  city  wall. 

The  canal  is  laid  down  as  running  the  entire  length  of 
Broad  Street     (map  of  "Towne  of  Wambados  or  New 

[17] 


What 

would  they 
do  to  a  man 
to-day  who 
called  the 
City  Hall 
the 

"Stadt 
Huys?" 


Amsterdam,  as  it  was  in  September,  1661  ").  Thirty  years 
later,  this  canal  was  filled  up.  It  had  a  little  branch  running 
toward  the  west,  through  Beaver  Street.  The  main  canal 
appears  to  have  been  crossed  by  two  principal  bridges,  one 
at  Bridge  and  the  other  at  Stone  Street,  with  smaller  ones, 
evidently  designed  for  foot  passengers.  Near  Beaver  Street 
small  boats  or  canoes  lay  moored  in  the  canal. 

On  Whitehall  Street  stood  the  parsonage  of  the  Dutch 
Dominie,  with  its  garden  of  beautiful  tulips  and  hyacinths, 
and  its  paths  of  cedar  and  clipped  box.  Close  at  hand 
stood  the  bakery,  brewery,  and  warehouse  of  the  Company. 

In  William  Street  near  Pearl  was  the  old  horse-mill 
erected  by  Director  Minuit,  and  which  gave  good  service 
until  superseded  by  the  three  windmills  of  Van  Twiller. 
One  of  these  stood  on  State  Street  and  was  the  most  prom- 
inent object  seen  on  approaching  the  city  from  the  bay. 
The  old  fort  itself  was  bounded  by  Bridge,  Whitehall  and 
State  Streets,  and  the  Bowling  Green. 

Two  main  roads  led  from  the  fort  at  the  Battery 
toward  the  northern  part  of  the  Island.  One  of  these, 
afterward  the  Boston  or  the  old  Post  Road,  followed  Broad- 
way to  the  Park,  and  then  extended  through  Chatham, 
Duane,  William,  and  Pearl  Streets  to  the  Bowery  ("Bow- 
erie,,,  i.e.,  farm). 

On  the  8th  of  December,  1683,  the  city  was  divided 
into  six  wards.  The  First  or  South  Ward,  beginning  at  the 
river,  extended  along  the  west  side  of  Broad  to  Beaver 
Street;  thence  westward  along  Beaver  Street  to  the  Bowling 
Green;  thence  southward  by  the  Fort  to  Pearl  Street,  and 
thence  westward  along  the  river  shore  to  the  place  of  start- 
ing. The  Second  or  Dock  Ward,  also  beginning  at  the  river 
at  the  southeast  corner  of  Pearl  and  Broad  Streets,  extended 
along  the  shore  to  Hanover  Square;  thence  northward 
through  William  to  Beaver  Street;  thence  along  Beaver  to 
Broad  Street;  thence  back  and  through  Broad  Street  to 
the  river  shore. 

About  171 1,  a  new  market  was  established  at  the 

[18] 


EXCHANGE— OR  MARKET 


upper  end  of  Broad  Street,  between  the  City  Hall  and 
Exchange  Place,  and  permission  was  given  to  the  residents 
of  the  vicinity  to  erect  stalls  and  sheds  to  suit  their  con- 
venience, under  the  direction  of  the  clerk  of  the  market. 

For  more  than  a  century  there  had  been  no  public 
library  in  the  city,  but  in  the  year  1729,  some  1,622  volumes 
were  bequeathed  to  the  "Venerable  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  by  whom  the  books 
were  in  turn  immediately  presented  to  the  city.  To  this 
was  added  another  collection,  the  gift  of  the  Chaplain  to 
Lord  Bellamont,  when  both  collections  were  opened  to  the 
public  as  the  "Corporation  Library."  In  1754,  a  few 
public-spirited  citizens  founded  the  Society  Library,  at  the 
same  time  adding  the  Corporation  collection,  and  deposited 
the  whole  in  the  City  Hall  (corner  of  Wall  and  Nassau 
Streets).  The  undertaking  prospered,  and  in  1772,  George 
III.  granted  it  a  charter. 

In  1738  a  quarantine  was  established  on  Bedloe's 
Island,  and  Rector  Street  was  opened.    In  1702,  there  were    The  slave 
imported  165  African  slaves;  in  171 8,  517  arrived.    After  started 
that  year,  however,  the  traffic  began  to  fall  off,  the  natural 
increase  being  large. 

I19 1 


Price  of 
slaves  was 
quite 

reasonable 


Ma.p  aC  New  Amsterdam 
17  16 

Almost  every  family  in  the  colony  owned  one  or  more 
negro  servants,  and  among  the  richer  classes  their  number 
was  considered  a  certain  evidence  of  their  masters' 
prosperity. 

About  the  year  1703,  a  period  of  prosperity  and  social 
refinement  with  the  Dutch  of  New  Amsterdam,  the  Widow 
Van  Cortlandt  had  five  male  slaves,  two  women  and  two 
children;  Colonel  DePeyster  had  the  same  number,  William 
Beekman  two,  &c,  &c.  The  slave  trade  was  brought  into 
the  Dutch  colony  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  and 
shortly  after  its  introduction  became  a  considerable  and 
profitable  branch  of  its  shipping  interest.  A  "prime  slave" 
was  valued  at  from  #120  to  $250,  and  below  this  price  he 
could  not  profitably  be  purchased  from  Africa  or  the  West 
Indies.  African  slavery  was  encouraged  as  the  most  certain 
and  economical  way  of  introducing  slavery  into  a  new 
country,  where  there  was  no  surplus  population.  As  far 
back  as  1628,  slaves  constituted  a  portion  of  the  population 
of  New  Amsterdam,  and  to  such  an  extent  had  the  traffic 
in  them  reached,  that  in  1709,  a  slave  market  was  erected 
at  the  foot  of  Wall  Street,  where  all  negroes  who  were  to  be 
hired  or  sold  stood  in  readiness  for  bidders.  The  boere- 
knechts,  or  servants  whom  the  settlers  brought  over  with 


them  from  Holland,  soon  deserted  their  field  work  for  the 
fur  traffic,  thus  causing  European  laborers  to  become  scarce 
and  high,  and  as  a  natural  result,  slaves,  by  their  cheapness, 
became  one  of  the  staples  of  the  new  country.  The  passage 
money  to  New  Netherland  was  also  lessened  from  50  to  30 
guilders,  and  settlers  were  allowed  to  "sail  to  the  coast  of 
Angola  and  Africa  to  procure  as  many  negroes  as  they  might 
be  willing  to  employ. " 

Several  outbreaks  had  already  happened  among  the 
negroes  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  the  whites  lived  in  constant 
anticipation  of  trouble  and  danger  from  them.  Rumors  of 
an  intended  insurrection,  real  or  imaginary,  would  circulate 
(as  in  the  negro  plot  of  171 2),  and  the  whole  city  be  thrown 
into  a  state  of  alarm.  The  result  was  always  the  same, 
viz.,  the  slaves  always  suffered,  many  dying  by  the  fagot  or 
the  gallows.  In  1741,  New  York  swarmed  with  negroes, 
and  her  leading  merchants  were  engaged  in  the  slave  trade, 
at  that  time  regarded  fair  and  honorable.  New  York  then 
resembled  a  southern  city,  with  its  calaboose  on  the  Park 
Commons  and  its  slave  market  at  the  foot  of  Wall  Street. 
At  this  time  the  city  contained  some  10,000  inhabitants, 
about  one-fifth  of  whom  were  African  slaves,  called  the 
" black  seed  of  Cain."  Many  of  the  laws  for  their  govern- 
ment were  most  unjust  and  oppressive.  Whenever  three  of 


ill  i  11 


Importing 
slaves 


Slaves 
burned  or 
hanged  in 
1628 


Population 

10,000; 

now 

7,000,000 


100  YEARS  AGO.    NO.  1  BROADWAY  IN  1822 


-i] 


Slaves  were 
flogged 


Slaves  freed 
in  1758 


Plans  for 
Washington 
Hotel  sent 
out  from 
Lisbon, 
Spain 


A. 


them  were  found  together,  they  were  liable  to  be  punished 
by  forty  lashes  on  the  bare  back,  and  the  same  penalty 
followed  their  walking  with  a  club,  outside  of  their  masters' 
grounds,  without  a  permit. 

In  1758  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  New  York  was  prac- 
tically accomplished  by  an  act  which  declared  that  from  that 
time  forth  all  children  born  of  slave  parents  should  be  free. 

In  1742  was  built  the  house  on  the  site  of  what  was 
afterward  known  as  No.  1  Broadway,  which  in  1872  was 
still  standing  and  known  as  the  "Washington  Hotel,"  and 
the  oldest  house  in  the  city.  The  site  had  previously  been 
occupied  by  an  old  tavern  kept  by  a  Mrs.  Kocks,  built  the 
century  previous  by  her  husband,  Pieter  Kocks,  an  officer 
in  the  Dutch  service  and  an  active  leader  in  the  Indian  War 
of  1693.  In  the  building  of  the  Washington  Hotel,  neither 
pains  nor  expense  was  spared  to  make  it  one  of  the  finest 
mansions  in  this  country.  The  plans  were  all  sent  out  from 
Lisbon,  the  exterior  and  the  interior  being  similar  in  every 
respect  to  that  of  the  British  ambassador's  residence  at  the 
Portuguese  capital.  The  house  was  56  feet  on  Broadway, 
and  when  erected  the  rear  of  the  lot  was  washed  by  the 
North  River.  Greenwich  Street  was  not  then  opened  nor 
built.  The  banqueting  room  was  26  x  40,  used  on  all  great 
occasions.  After  the  British  forces  captured  New  York  in 
[22] 


debut 


the  Revolution,  as  the  most  prominent  house,  it  was  the 
headquarters  of  the  distinguished  British  Commanders. 
Sir  William  Howe,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  and  Sir  Guy  Carlton 
all  in  succession  occupied  this  house;  and  Major  Andre,  then 
Adjutant-General  of  the  British  forces  and  aid  to  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  resided  in  this  house,  being  of  the  family  of  Sir 
Henry. 

The  appointment  of  Admiral  George  Clinton  to  the 
government  was  very  satisfactory  to  the  colony,  and  he 
arrived  in  New  York  on  Sept.  22,  1743.    The  General  Governor 
Assembly  was  convened,  and  an  appropriation  was  asked  Clinton 
to  rebuild  the  barracks  and  public  offices,  together  with  the  rnj^e^*1*s 
house  of  the  Governor,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  fire. 
The  Assembly  voted  the  Governor  £1,500  for  his  salary, 
£100  for  house  rent,  £400  for  fuel  and  candles,  £150  to 
enable  him  to  visit  the  Indians  and  £800  for  the  purchase 
of  presents  to  be  distributed  amongst  them;  and  the  Govern- 
or was  so  well  pleased  with  the  good  temper  of  the  Assembly 
that  he  signed  every  bill  without  a  murmur. 

During  Clinton's  term  of  office  of  ten  years,  several 
public  edifices  had  been  erected,  and  various  improvements 
had  taken  place  in  the  city.  The  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Wall  Street  had  been  rebuilt;  Thames  Street  wras  paved; 
Pearl  Street  was  dug  down  near  Peck  Slip  and  graded  from 
Franklin  Square  to  Chatham  Street.  In  1747,  the  Common 
Council  appropriated  four  pounds  for  the  publication  of 
fifty  copies  of  "An  Essay  on  the  Duties  of  Vestrymen"! 
In  1752  the  first  merchants'  exchange  was  erected  at  the 
foot  of  Broad  Street. 

During  1761,  the  old  plan  of  lighting  the  streets  by 
lanterns  suspended  from  the  windows  was  definitely  aban- 
doned, and  public  lamps  and  lampposts  were  erected  in  the 
principal  streets,  and  lighted  at  the  public  expense. 

At  an  early  period  in  New  York,  the  mails,  now  of 
such  vital  importance,  were  a  very  insignificant  affair. 
Since  the  American  Revolution  a  saddle-bag  boy  on  horse- 
back, without  anv  protection,  carried  the  mail  three  times  a 

[23I 


Mails  were 
distributed 
by  boys 
with 

saddlebags 


New  York 
to  Phila- 
delphia and 
return  in 
5  days 


People  of 
New  York 
rioted 
against 
tax  stamps 


week  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  People  won- 
dered at  seeing  the  bags  placed  next  upon  a  sulky;  and 
were  lost  in  amazement  when  a  four-horse  stage  became 
necessary  for  the  increasing  load  and  bulk.  One  route  ad- 
vertised a  commodious  "stage-boat "  to  start  with  goods 
and  passengers  from  the  City  Hall  slip  (Coenties)  twice  a 
week  for  Perth  Amboy  ferry,  and  thence  by  stage-wagon 
to  Cranberry  and  Burlington,  from  which  point  a  stage- 
boat  continued  the  line  to  Philadelphia.  This  trip  generally 
required  three  days.  These  stage-boats  were  small  sloops 
sailed  by  a  single  man  and  boy,  and  passing  outside  by  the 
Narrows  and  through  the  Lower  Bay,  these  small  passenger 
vessels  at  times  were  driven  out  to  sea,  thus  oftentimes 
causing  vexatious  delays.  At  the  "Blazing  Star"  persons 
were  notified  that  they  might  go  "from  New  York  to  Phila- 
delphia and  back  in  five  days,  remaining  in  Philadelphia  two 
nights  and  one  day,  fare  twenty  shillings  through.  There 
will  be  two  wagons  and  two  drivers  and  four  relays  of 
horses.  The  passengers  will  load  at  Paulus  Hook  Ferry  the 
night  before,  to  start  thence  the  next  morning  early." 

On  March  22,  1763,  the  Stamp  Act  was  passed  and 
received  the  signature  of  the  King.  The  people  of  New 
York  were  among  the  most  bitter  opponents  of  the  Stamp 
Act.  While  the  riots  were  going  on  in  Boston,  the  act  itself 
was  reprinted  and  hawked  about  the  streets  of  New  York 
City  as  "the  folly  of  England  and  ruin  of  America."  Secret 
organizations  styling  themselves  the  "Sons  of  Liberty"  met 
to  discuss  plans  of  resistance.  On  the  arrival  of  the  first 
cargo  of  stamps  in  the  harbor,  toward  the  end  of  October, 
placards  were  posted  up  in  the  streets  and  at  the  Merchants' 
Coffee  House,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy: 

"  Pro  Patria 
"The  first  man  that  either  distributes  or  makes 
"  use  of  stampt  paper,  let  him  take  care  of  his 
"  house,  person,  and  effects.  - 

"Vox  Populi. 
"WE  DARE." 

[24] 


The  old  DeLancey  homestead,  just  north  of  Trinity 
Church,  had  been  converted  into  a  public  house,  known 
variously  as  the  " Province  Arms,"  the  "New  York  Arms," 
and  also  by  the  name  of  the  proprietor,  "Burns's  Tavern" 
and  "Burns's  Coffee  House. "  The  merchants  met  at  this 
tavern  to  consummate  the  first  blow  struck  at  the  trade  and 
industry  of  Great  Britain.  Over  two  hundred  signed  the 
Non-Importation  Agreement  on  October  31,  1765.  The 
Sons  of  Liberty  sang  ballads  as  they  wandered  through  the 
streets.  The  favorite  was  one  of  thirteen  verses  with  a 
chorus,  of  which  the  following  lines  are  a  specimen: 

"  With  the  beasts  of  the  wood  we  will  ramble  for  food, 
And  lodge  in  wild  deserts  and  caves, 
And  live  poor  as  Job  on  the  skirts  of  the  globe 
Before  we'll  submit  to  be  slaves,  Brave  Boys, 
Before  we'll  submit  to  be  slaves,"  etc.,  etc. 

The  Lieutenant-Governor  had  the  stamps  conveyed 
for  greater  security  to  the  Fort,  and  in  great  trepidation 
summoned  the  members  of  his  Privy  Council  for  their  advice. 
On  the  1st  of  November,  the  day  appointed  for  the  Stamp 
Act  to  go  into  operation,  the  popular  indignation  which  had 
been  so  long  smouldering  burst  forth.  Early  in  the  evening 
the  Sons  of  Liberty,  numbering  several  thousand,  appeared 
before  the  Fort.  On  being  refused,  they  proceeded  to  the 
open  fields  and,  having  erected  a  gibbet,  they  hanged  the 
Lieutenant-Governor  in  effigy  and  suspended  by  his  side  a 
figure  holding  in  its  hand  a  boot,  representing  Lord  Bute. 
The  images  after  hanging  some  little  time  were  taken  down 
and  carried  in  a  torchlight  procession  to  the  gates  of  the  Fort. 
Having  in  vain  knocked  on  the  gates  for  admission,  the  mob 
broke  into  the  Lieutenant-Governor's  carriage  house, 
brought  forth  the  family  coach,  placed  inside  it  the  two 
effigies,  and,  having  again  paraded  them  around  the  city, 
returned  to  within  one  hundred  yards  of  the  Fort  gate  and 
hanged  the  figures  upon  a  second  gallows  erected  for  that 
purpose.   A  bonfire  was  then  made  out  of  the  wooden  fence 


Sons  of 
Liberty 
object  to 
tax  stamps 


ORIGINAL  TAMMANY  HALL 


which  at  that  time  surrounded  the  Bowling  Green,  and 
the  effigies  together  with  the  Lieutenant-Governor's  coach,  a 
single  horse  chair,  two  sleighs,  and  several  light  vehicles 
were  cast  into  the  flames  and  entirely  consumed.   While  the 
flames  were  lighting  up  the  black  muzzles  of  the  guns  of  the 
They  called    Fort,  another  party,  having  spiked  the  cannon  on  the  Bat- 
the  turn  on    tery,  proceeded  to  the  house  of  Major  James,  who  had  made 
Major  himself  obnoxious  by  having  aided  in  putting  the  Fort  in  a 

James  suitable  posture  for  defence,  and,  having  burned  everything 

of  value,  they  returned  in  triumph,  bringing  with  them  the 
colors  of  the  Royal  Artillery  Regiment. 

In  1766,  a  committee  from  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  having 
ascertained  that  a  certain  merchant  had  sent  to  Philadelphia 
a  Mediterranean  pass  and  a  bond  on  stamped  paper,  waited 
on  the  merchant  and  the  naval  officer  who  had  given  the 
pass,  and  conducted  them  to  the  Coffee  House,  before 
which  a  bonfire  had  been  kindled,  and  obliged  the  merchant 
to  commit  the  pass  to  the  flames  with  his  own  hands. 

On  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  in  1766,  the  colonists 

were  in  a  delirium  of  delight,  and  in  New  York  Citv  especially 

[26] 


the  populace  seemed  wild  with  joy.  Bells  were  ringing,  a 
royal  salute  of  twenty-one  guns  fired,  and  the  city  illumin- 
ated. On  the  4th  of  June,  the  King's  birthday,  the  Governor 
had  an  ox  roasted  whole,  a  hogshead  of  rum  and  twenty-five 
barrels  of  beer  opened,  and  the  people  were  invited  to  join 
the  feast.  On  the  same  day  a  mast  was  erected,  inscribed: 
"To  his  Most  Gracious  Majesty,  George  the  Third,  Mr. 
Pitt,  and  Liberty. " 

In  1767,  for  the  better  prevention  of  fires,  an  ordnance 
was  passed  directing  that  all  the  roofs  in  the  city  should  be 
covered  with  slate  or  tiles.  For  some  years  tiles  alone  were 
used,  the  first  building  roofed  with  slate  being,  it  is  said,  the 
City  Hotel  on  Broadway  on  the  block  from  Thames  Street 
to  Cedar,  erected  about  1794,  which  was  the  Astor  House 
of  that  day,  and  for  many  years  the  most  distinguished 
establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  country.  It  was  the  site  of 
the  "Kings  Arms"  Tavern  of  a  hundred  years  previous, 
which  was  also,  in  its  day,  one  of  the  most  prominent  points 
of  interest  in  the  "fashionables"  of  "old  New  York." 

"It  is  surprising,"  writes  Peter  Van  Schaak 
to  his  brother  Henry,  under  date  of  Jan.  27,  1769, 
"what  trifles  can  be  turned  to  the  greatest  advan- 
tage in  elections  and  be  made  to  captivate  the 
passions  of  the  vulgar.  It  was  said  during  last 
election  that  T.  Smith  had  said  that  the  Irish  were 
poor  beggars  and  had  come  over  here  upon  a  bunch 
of  straw.  The  whole  body  of  Irishmen  immediately 
joined,  and  appeared  with  straws  in  their  hats." 
Another  writes:  "I  arrived  here  St.  Johns  Day, 
when  there  was  a  grand  procession  of  the  whole 
masonic  fraternity.  *  *  *  Will  Smith  and  W. 
Livingston  got  an  old  rascally  sermon  called 
'Masonry  the  Sure  Guide  to  Hell,'  reprinted  and 
distributed  it  with  great  assiduity  *  *  *  and 
there  is  to-day  an  extraordinary  lodge  held  on 
the  occasion  in  order  to  consult  means  to  resent  the 
effront." 

1 27] 


George  III 
repealed 
the  Stamp 
Act  1766 


The  Irish 
wore  straws 
in  their 
hats 

instead  of 
shamrocks 


The  hatred  between  the  soldiers  and  the  Sons  of 
Liberty  daily  gained  strength.  The  soldiers  resolved  to 
insult  their  enemies  in  the  most  tender  spot.  Accordingly, 
on  Jan.  13,  1770,  a  portion  of  the  16th  Regiment  attempted 
to  destroy  the  Liberty  pole  by  sawing  off  its  spars  and 
blowing  it  up  with  gunpowder.  A  knot  of  citizens  having 
gathered  round  while  they  were  thus  engaged,  they  desisted 
for  the  present  from  the  attempt,  and  charging  upon  the 
group  with  fixed  bayonets,  drove  them  into  a  tavern  (kept 
by  Montagne)  a  favorite  resort  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty, 
broke  the  windows  and  demolished  a  portion  of  the  furniture. 
Three  days  afterward,  however,  they  succeeded  in  their 
design,  and  having  cut  the  obnoxious  symbol  in  pieces, 
they  piled  its  fragments  in  front  of  Montagne's  door.  On 
the  5th  of  February  another  pole  was  erected  inscribed 
"Liberty  and  Property,"  which  remained  until  cut  down  in 
1776  by  the  British  soldiery  at  that  time  occupying  the  city. 
At  this  time  one  hundred  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  purchased 
a  house  for  £600 — each  of  them  contributing  £6 — in  which 
to  celebrate  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  having  on  the 
19th  of  March  drunk  forty-five  popular  toasts,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  the  jail  where  Capt.  McDougall  was  confined 
for  being  the  author  of  a  libelous  handbill,  saluted  him  with 
forty-five  cheers  and  quietly  dispersed. 

The  Battle  of  Golden  Hill  (John  Street  between  Gold 
and  Cliff  Streets)  on  the  18th  of  January,  1770,  was  the 
beginning  of  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution.  The 
storm  had  now  been  gathering  for  several  years.  The 
destruction  of  the  Liberty  pole  increased  the  mutual  exas- 
peration, and  the  fight  that  followed  was  but  the  natural 
consequence.    To  the  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK  therefore 
New  York     must  ever  be  given  the  honor  of  striking  the  first  blow.  The 
rlr^^low6      massacre  m  King  Street  (the  first  street  north  of  Wall  at 
for  liberty      t^iat  t^me)  two  montns  ^ater  added  intensity  to  the  flame, 
and  although  five  years  intervened  before  the  demonstra- 
tion at  Lexington,  there  were  too  many  nervous  pens  and 
eloquent  tongues  in  exercise  to  allow  these  feelings  to  sub- 
US  1 


FRAUNCE'S  TAVERN 


side  or  the  noble  spirit  of  Liberty  that  had  been  awakened 
to  be  quenched. 

Bolton's  Tavern  was  located  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  Broad  and  Pearl  Streets.  It  was  celebrated  for  fifty 
years  as  a  place  of  resort,  like  our  modern  Delmonico's,  and 
was  still  better  known  as  Sam  Fraunce's  tavern.  Here 
Washington  bade  farewell  to  his  officers  on  Dec.  4,  1783. 
That  historic  scene  is  thus  described  by  Colonel  Tallmadge, 
one  of  his  officers: 

"After  partaking  of  a  slight  refreshment  in  almost 
breathless  silence,  the  General  filled  his  glass  with  wine, 
and  turning  to  the  officers,  said:  'With  a  heart  full  of  love 
and  gratitude  I  now  take  leave  of  you.  I  most  devoutly 
wish  that  your  latter  days  may  be  as  prosperous  and  happy 
as  your  former  ones  have  been  glorious  and  honorable.'" 

The  Coffee  House  stood  on  the  southeast  corner  of 
Wall  and  Water  Streets.  The  slip  near  it  was  known  as 
Coffee  House  Slip  at  the  foot  of  Wall  Street.  The  meal  or 
flour  market  was  close  by.  The  river  then  came  up  to 
Water  Street. 

[*] 


George 

Washington 

bids 

farewell  to 
his  officers, 
1783,  at 
Fraunce's 
tavern 


Boston 
hadn't  all 
the  glory! 
We  also  had 
a  tea  party 
of  our  own 


A  member  of  Washington's  family  while  the  President 
resided  in  New  York  spoke  of  St.  Paul's  Church  as  quite 
out  of  town,  and  of  playing  on  a  fine  green  common  where 
the  Park  Theater  stood.  A  writer  of  reminiscences  of  1784 
speaks  of  having  often  passed  on  skates  from  the  "kolck" 
under  the  bridge  at  Broadway  and  Canal  Street,  and,  pur- 
suing the  outlet  to  the  meadows,  he  would  proceed  over 
them  to  the  north  beyond  Hudson  Square. 

On  the  night  of  the  22d  of  February,  1774,  the  Sons  of 
Liberty,  following  the  example  of  their  Boston  neighbors 
and  like  them  also  disguised  as  Mohawks,  threw  over  a 
cargo  of  tea  brought  by  the  "Nancy"  into  the  waters  of 
New  York  Bay.  The  Battle  of  Lexington  had  been  followed 
by  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  the  brave  Montgomery  was 
preparing  to  undertake  his  ill-fated  expedition  against 
Quebec,  &c.  Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  Wash- 
ington, on  June  21,  1775,  set  out  from  Philadelphia  for 
Boston  with  the  purpose  of  taking  in  New  York  on  his  way. 
Washington  arrived  on  the  25th  and  was  escorted  into  the 
city  by  a  Committee  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  by  whom 
he  had  been  met  at  Newark,  and  having  placed  the  city 
under  the  command  of  General  Schuyler,  he  departed  for 
Boston.  The  Provincial  Congress  regarded  the  guns  in  the 
Battery  as  a  standing  menace  to  the  Patriot  party,  and 
wishing  them  for  the  defence  of  the  Highlands,  ordered  their 
removal.  Lamb,  at  the  head  of  his  Liberty  boys,  among 
whom  was  Alexander  Hamilton,  at  once  volunteered  for 
this  service,  and  in  the  face  of  the  guns  of  the  "Asia,"  which 
opened  her  batteries  upon  the  party,  succeeded  in  carrving 
away  to  a  place  of  safety  the  whole  of  the  pieces  of  cannon, 
twenty-one  in  number.  This  event  at  once  brought  things 
to  a  crisis,  and  the  Governor  (Tryon),  alarmed  for  his  per- 
sonal safety  among  an  incensed  populace,  took  refuge  on 
board  of  the  "Asia." 

On  the  10th  of  July,  1776,  when  the  news  was  received 
in  the  city  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  enthu- 
siasm was  universal,  and  almost  all  hastened  to  aid  General 
[30] 


Putnam  in  fortifying  the  city.  The  principal  fortifications 
were  as  follows:  a  grand  battery  of  twenty-three  guns 
was  erected  directly  south  of  the  Bowling  Green;  McDou- 
galPs  battery  of  four  guns  stood  on  a  little  eminence  to  the 
west  of  Trinity  Church;  on  the  East  River  side  were  Coen- 
ties'  battery,  Waterbury's  battery,  Badlam's  battery  of 
eight  guns  near  the  Jewish  burial  ground  on  Chatham 
Street,  and  the  Independent  battery  on  a  slight  elevation 
on  the  corner  of  the  present  Grand  and  Center  Streets. 
Breastworks  were  also  erected  at  Peck,  Beekman,  Burling 
and  Old  slips;  at  the  Coffee  House,  the  Exchange,  and  in 
Broad  Street.  Ditches  were  cut  across  the  island  from  the 
East  to  the  North  River,  and  at  the  same  time  strong  forti- 
fications were  thrown  up  on  Governor's  Island,  Paulus  Hook 
(Jersey  City),  Brooklyn  Heights,  and  Long  Island.  Wash- 
ington soon  established  his  headquarters  in  the  city. 

On  the  night  of  the  20th  of  September,  1776,  a  terrific 
fire  broke  out,  which  was  not  subdued  until  one  thousand 

houses,  or  about  one-fourth  of  the  city,  was  reduced  to    ,  n  A 

,       TL     •  111       1  •  ii«  has  its  first 

ashes.    1  he.  city  numbered  then  about  30,000  inhabitants,    serious  fire 

The  fire  was  first  discovered  in  a  low  dram  shop,  and  a  few  1776 
minutes  afterward  flames  were  seen  to  break  forth  from 
several  other  buildings  lying  in  different  directions.  For 
some  time  previous  the  weather  had  been  dry,  and  at  the 
moment  a  brisk  southerly  wind  prevailing,  the  buildings 
being  of  wood  and  covered  with  shingles,  the  flames  soon 
caught  the  neighboring  houses  and  spread  with  inconceiv- 
able rapidity.  The  fire  swept  up  Broad  and  Beaver  Streets 
to  Broadway,  and  thence  onward,  consuming  all  that  portion 
of  the  town  lying  on  the  North  River,  until  the  flames  were 
stopped  by  the  grounds  of  King's  (Columbia)  College  at 
Mortkile  Street,  now  Barclay.  The  next  day  a  great  many 
cartloads  of  pine  sticks  dipped  in  brimstone  were  found 
concealed  in  cellars  of  houses  to  which  the  incendiaries  had 
not  had  time  to  set  fire.  "The  rebels,,,  writes  the  Rev. 
Charles  Inglis  to  the  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  "carried  off  all  the  bells  in 

[31] 


THE  OLD  SUGAR  HOUSE  IN  LIBERTY  STREET 


One  could 
drive  a 
team  to 
Staten 
Island 
on  the  ice, 
or  roast 
an  ox  on  it. 
Both  have 
been 

frequently 
done 


the  city,  partly  to  convert  them  into  cannon  and  partly  to 
prevent  notice  being  given  speedily  of  the  destruction  they 
meditated  against  the  city  by  fire,  when  it  began.  Several 
rebels  secreted  themselves  in  the  houses  to  execute  the 
diabolical  purpose  of  destroying  the  city." 

Among  the  numerous  prison  pens  in  the  city  during 
the  Revolution  were  the  old  Sugar  House,  on  the  north  side 
of  Wall  east  of  Broad,  the  North  Dutch  Church  on  William 
Street,  corner  of  Fulton,  and  the  Middle  Dutch  Church 
adjoining  the  Sugar  House.  In  the  North  Dutch  Church 
800  prisoners  were  incarcerated  without  fuel  or  bedding 
during  two  of  the  coldest  winters  New  York  has  ever  known, 
when  the  river  and  bay  between  Cortlandt  Street,  New 
Jersey,  and  Staten  Island  were  frozen  over  for  forty  days; 
when  hundreds  of  people  crossed  daily  on  the  ice,  which  was 
so  thick  that  artillery  was  also  conveyed  across.  Their 
provisions  were  scanty  and  of  the  poorest  quality,  and  many 
died  from  cold  and  starvation.  "We  never,"  said  one  of  the 
prisoners,  "drew  as  much  provisions  for  three  days'  allow- 
[3*1 


ance  as  a  man  would  eat  at  a  common  meal.  *  *  *  There 
was  not  a  pane  of  glass  in  the  windows  and  nothing  to  keep 
out  the  cold  except  the  prison  gates."  The  bones  of  unfor- 
tunate victims  of  British  cruelty  were  collected  after  the 
Revolution  and  buried  with  proper  funeral  rites. 

While  the  American  prisoners  were  thus  languishing 
in  prison,  the  British  officers  and  their  wives  were  passing 
their  time  in  a  round  of  gaiety  and  frivolity.  The  rich  in 
the  city  at  first  strove  to  keep  up  their  six  courses  and  their 
profusion  of  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl,  but  at  length  their  resources 
failed.  Many  articles  of  food  could  no  longer  be  obtained, 
and  others  were  so  dear  as  to  exhaust  the  means  of  the 
wealthiest.  A  turkey  was  cheap  at  $4;  good  meat  could 
seldom  be  procured,  and  vegetables  were  extravagantly 
dear.  "Fifty  dollars,"  says  an  eye-witness  "would  not 
feed  a  family  for  two  days."  Sir  Henry  Clinton  entreated 
the  farmers  of  the  vicinity  to  bring  in  provisions,  but  in 
vain;  nor  was  he  more  successful  in  the  foraging  parties  he 

[33] 


A  turkey  at 
$4  led  the 
market  list 


sent  out.  At  sight  of  the  enemy  the  alarm  was  given,  the 
farmers  of  Westport  and  Southport,  of  Elizabethtown  and 
Rahway,  hastily  buried  their  corn  and  oats  beneath  the 
snow,  and  old  family  furniture  was  carried  off  at  midnight 
and  hidden  in  the  depths  of  the  forest.  The  British  foraging 
parties,  accordingly,  found  the  barns  empty,  the  cattle 
driven  off,  and  the  farmhouses  deserted.  In  their  rage,  the 
foragers  set  fire  to  the  old  homesteads  and  desolated  whole 
districts,  thus  increasing  the  general  misery  without  accom- 
plishing the  least  good.  The  wealthy  shivered  in  their  splen- 
did apartments.  In  vain  did  Sir  Henry  Clinton  issue  proc- 
lamations to  the  farmers  of  Long  Island  to  send  in  their 
wood;  in  vain  did  he  dispatch  foraging  parties  to  cut  down 
the  forests  on  the  large  estates  of  the  patroons  of  Long 
Island;  the  demand  for  fuel  could  not  be  supplied.  Orders 
were  given  to  cut  down  some  of  the  trees  in  the  "great 
avenue" — probably  Wall  Street.  All  the  principal  high- 
ways of  the  city  were  adorned  at  this  period  with  luxuriant 
shade  trees.  A  celebrated  traveler  who  visited  New  York 
just  previous  to  the  arrival  of  Governor  Tryon,  wrote: 

"  In  the  different  streets  there  are  trees  planted,  and  I  found 
it  extremely  pleasant  to  walk  in  the  town,  for  it  seemed  quite  like 
a  garden.  The  trees  which  are  planted  for  this  purpose  are 
chiefly  of  two  kinds:  the  water  beech  is  the  most  numerous  and 
gives  an  agreeable  shade  in  summer  by  its  large  and  numerous 
leaves;  the  locust  tree  is  likewise  frequent.  Its  fine  leaves  and 
the  odoriferous  scent  which  exhales  from  its  flowers  make  it  very 
proper  for  being  planted  in  the  streets  near  the  houses  and  the 
gardens.  There  are  likewise  lime  trees  and  elms  in  these  walks, 
but  they  are  not  by  far  so  frequent  as  the  others." 

The  last  of  these  trees  in  Wall  Street  was  cut  down  in 
1866;  a  portion  of  its  trunk  preserved  as  a  sacred  relic  was 
to  be  seen  in  the  old  English  chop-house  on  Thames  Street, 
known  as  "Old  Tom's." 

The  taste  for  fashionable  frivolity  and  display  seems 
to  have  been  the  only  thing  unaffected  by  the  privations  of 
[34] 


KIPP'S  BAY  HOUSE 


that  gloomy  winter.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  suffering  and 
want,  the  city  streets  were  filled  with  the  fashions  and 
luxuries  of  Europe.  The  ladies  crowded  William  Street  and 
the  merchants  spread  out  the  most  costly  wares.  Brocades 
and  the  best  broadcloth  of  England  were  shown  on  the 
counters  of  William  and  Wall  Streets. 

William  Beekman  had  a  downtown  house  located  on 
the  spot  which  was  afterward  the  Journal  of  Commerce 
Building.  The  old  road  to  the  Fort  from  the  ferry  on  the 
East  River  then  at  Peck  Slip  ran  along  the  shore  nearly  to 
the  foot  of  Wall  Street,  when  it  turned  and  passed  the  Beek- 
man house,  which  was  probably  erected  with  reference  to 
this  highway.  In  171 2  a  negro  riot  broke  out  near  Hanover 
Square,  and  Adrian  Beekman,  rushing  out  of  his  residence 
to  help  quell  the  insurrection,  was  stabbed  by  a  negro.  As 
a  result  of  this  riot,  nineteen  slaves  were  executed. 

Within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  site  of  that  building. 
Wall  Street,  with  its  fibers  stretching  out  into  every  part  of 
the  civilized  globe,  controls  the  destinies  of  millions  of 
human  beings.  Where  the  good  Mrs.  Beekman  and  her  five 
daughters  attended  to  their  household  duties  in  the  old 
Dutch  kitchen,  a  steam  engine  drove  a  printing  press. 
Where  they  sat  waiting  for  news  from  "home,"  by  ships 
that  were  months  in  coming,  editors  sat  and  received  in  the 
afternoon  the  morning's  news  in  England  and  Holland. 

[35] 


Negro  stabs 

Beekman 

and 

nineteen 
of  them 
are  killed 
in  reprisal 


George 

Washington 

was 

inaugu- 
rated 
President 
of  the 
United 
States  in 
1789  in 
Wall  Street 


At  length  a  definite  treaty  of  peace  was  entered  into 
by  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  on  the  3d  of  Sep- 
tember, 1783,  and  on  the  25th  of  November  of  the  same 
year — seven  years  from  the  time  that  the  British  had  occu- 
pied New  York  in  triumph — Washington  entered  the  city 
at  noon,  at  the  same  time  that  the  British  troops,  having, 
as  they  supposed,  prevented  the  immediate  hoisting  of  the 
American  colors  by  knocking  off  the  cleats  and  greasing  the 
flagstaff  on  Fort  George — evacuated  the  city  and  sailed 
slowly  down  the  Bay.  But  this  defiance  availed  them  little. 
New  cleats  were  at  once  nailed  to  the  pole,  and  before  the 
British  disappeared  in  the  offing  they  heard  the  thunder  of 
American  cannon  proclaiming,  as  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were 
run  up,  the  downfall  of  British  supremacy  in  America! 

In  the  Federal  Hall  in  Wall  Street  on  the  30th  of 
April,  1789,  Washington  was  inaugurated  first  President  of 
the  United  States. 


[36] 


<Xt)liy  Jb  The  Seaboard 


J 


N  these  days  when  oil  is  king  and  its 
devotees  are  the  most  powerful  repre- 
sentatives of  acknowledged  wealth,  it 


is  hard  to  believe  that  as  recently  as  1883 
Standard  Oil  certificates  were  regarded  as 
t(wild  cat"  by  the  New  York  banks.  They  said 
oil  was  "slippery  stuff"  and  they  would  not 
consider  it  as  collateral. 

Under  these  conditions,  S.  G.  Bayne  organ- 
ized the  Seaboard  Bank  for  the  express  purpose 
of  making  oil  a  specialty.  After  a  prosperous 
business  by  the  Seaboard  in  lending  on  oil 
certificates,  other  banks,  when  money  became 
a  drug  on  the  market,  began  to  investigate,  and 
decided  not  only  to  accept  them,  but  to  put  them 
at  the  very  top  of  the  collateral  list.  Of  course 
the  policy  of  the  bank  had  then  to  be  changed 
to  one  of  general  banking.  This  diversion 
brings  out  the  fact  that  our  President  was  in 
at  the  start  of  oildom.  His  first  well,  known 
as  the  "Sugar-house,"  was  within  gunshot  of 
the  "Drake"  well.  The  "Drake"  well  was  the 
first  oil  well  ever  drilled,  and  Billy  Smith,  who 
drilled  the  "Drake,"  often  assisted  at  the 
"Sugar-house,"  when  repairs  and  help  were 
needed,  while  Colonel  Drake  frequently  came 
over  with  him.     This  was  in  1869. 


Started  with  a  12-ft.  derrick;   saw  that  height  reach 
75  ft.    Sold  oil  for  10c.  a  barrel,  and  then  it  touched 
$20  in  the  same  year 


Oil  a  drug 

as  a 

security — 
presto !  it 
leads  all  the 
rest! 


(371 


"SUGAR  HOUSE"  WELL 

Colonel  Drake  with  the  silk  hat,  S.  G.  Bayne  and  Billy  Smith,  the  driller. 
Bayne's  "Sugar  House"  well  in  the  distance. 


[  38  j 


miiimirai.m 


i/is  n<?w  Aom^  /or  //^ 
Seaboard  National 
Bank  is  located  at 
the  corner  of  Broad  and  Beaver 
Streets.  The  work  was  started 
in  the  year  igig  and  com- 
pleted in  IQ2I. 

The  architect  and  engineer 
for  the  work  was  Alfred  C. 
Bossom  of  No.  680  Fifth 
Avenue^-  New  York. 

The  general  contractors  were 
C.  T.  Wills,  Inc.,  of  No.  286 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 

The  building  was  unani- 
mously awarded,  by  the  Down 
Town  League,  the  prize  as  the 
best  building  erected  in  New 
York  during  the  year  1920. 


Those 
depositors 
look  like 
money 


ONE  BAY  OF  THE  NEW  BUILDING 

[39] 


BANKING  ROOM 

[41] 


his  J 
'  'balance"      THE  ENTRANCE  To  the  new  building 
—getting 
into  the  car 


[42I 


DIRECTORS'  ROOM 

Nothing  in  sight  to  shock  the  visitor.  We  have,  however,  been  willing  to 
make  some  loans  on  good  whiskey.  Dean  Ramsay  put  it  tersely:  "Whuskie 
is  a  bawd  theng,  espeechly  bawd  whuskie." 


[43] 


SEABOARD 
NATIONAL  BANK 


OFFICERS 
President 
S.  G.  BAYNE 

V ice-Presidents 
W.  K.  Cleverley  B.  L.  Gill 

L.  N.  Devausney 

Vice-President  and  Cashier 
C.  H.  Marfield 

Assistant  Cashiers 
O.  M.  Jefferds        B.  I.  Dadson 
C.  C.  Fisher  Alexander  McKenna 

J.  D.  Smith  W.  A.  B.  Ditto 

J.  M.  Potts 

Trust  Officer 
E.  V.  Nelson 

DIRECTORS 

S.  G.  Bayne,  President 
Howard  Bayne,  Vice-President,  Columbia  Trust  Co. 
Robert  J.  Caldwell,  President,  R.  J.  Caldwell  Co.,  Inc. 
W.  K.  Cleverley,  Vice-President 
Edward  J.  Cornish,  President,  National  Lead  Co. 
L.  N.  Devausney,  Vice-President 
Henry  C.  Folger,  President,  Standard  Oil  Co.  of  New  York 
B.  L.  Gill,  Vice-President 
Edw.  H.  R.  Green,  President,  Texas  Midland  Railroad 
Peter  McDonnell,  General  Agent,  Trans-Atlantica 
Italiana  S.  S.  Co. 
William  E.  Paine,  Director,  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society 
Joseph  Seep,  Chairman,  Board  South  Penn.  Oil  Co. 
C.  C.  Thompson 
Henry  Whiton,  President,  Union  Sulphur  Company 

[44] 


HI 


HIS  bank  is  not  a  financial  Betelgeuse,  by  any 
means — just  one  of  the  little  cogs  on  a  giant  disc. 
Credit  and  reputation  are  the  flowers  that  bloom 
•in  life's  financial  buttonhole:  we  have  tried  hard  to  ac- 
quire the  one  and  retain  the  other,  with  real  service  as 
an  additional  asset. 

It  has  been  said  of  one  of  the  greatest  bankers  in  the 
South  that  his  devotion  to  us  was  remarkable.  We  could 
ask  for  no  greater  endorsement — not  if  we  toiled  for  a 
decade  to  obtain  it,  and  we  hope  to  be  always  worthy  of  his 
faith  in  us. 

On  the  next  page  is  a  reproduction  of  an  old-time 
burlesque  written  by  S.  G.  Bayne  for  a  bankers'  dinner, 
which  was  then  supposed  to  be  a  wild  exaggeration,  but  the 
whirligig  of  time  has  shown  it  to  be  far  below  the  condition 
of  modern  finance.  It  may  serve,  however,  to  bring  this 
brochure  to  a  close. 


[45] 


. .  Inrn  in  a  Ntgt|t_ 

PROSPECTUS  OF 

THE  KLONDIKE  NATIONAL  BANK 

A  Unique  and  Mammoth  Consolidation, 
a  Dazzling  Enterprise. 


Capital,  $30,000,000.  Estimated  Deposits,  £200,000,000 
Branches: 

First  National,  Manila.  The  Honolulu  National. 


LEECH,  President. 


DELAFIELD,  Vice-President.  PERKINS,  W.H.,  Cashier 
BAYNE,  Assistant  Cashier. 


These  Sandows  of  Finance  have  syndicated  themselves 
on  salaries,  and  stand  together  at  a  lump  sum 
of  $400,000  en  bloc. 

All  the  men  at  table  No.  7  have  been  elected  Directors. 
A  veritable  rainbow  of  fame.    Not  a  Guinea  Pig  in  the  set. 
They  wear       hats  and  can't  make  a  mistake. 
Fees  $20  a  minute. 
Board  meets  daily.  It  is  in  session  now. 

No  interest  will  be  charged  on  loans, 
we  make  our  profits  out  of  the  principle. 

This  Bank  will  be  run  on  rubber  tires; 

Billy  Bryan  will  have  charge  of  their  inflation. 

Loans  will  be  made  on  everything  of  value  from  the  Solar 
System  down  to  Bay  State  Gas. 

A  mind  reader  will  make  all  the  loans. 


A  Spion  cop  will  guard  our  gold. 


1 46 


We  started  in  with  the  oysters  on  a  low  grade  plan,  but  the 
size  of  the  officers  and  the  number  of  bottles 
consumed  have  made  an  increase  imperative. 

We  greet  our  future  depositors  with  a  wedding-breakfast 
smile,  and  will  present  a  pink  to  all  who  make  deposits. 

Trolly-ho  tickets  furnished  to  lady  depositors. 
Be  in  time!  Subscribe  early!  ! 

Join  the  procession  while  it's  on  the  ground  floor!  !  ! 
DON'T  DO  ANYTHING  TILL  YOU  SEE  US!  ! 


CURTAIN 


Printed  by  Harper  &  Brothers 


t  r  AW 


* 


